{"id":14,"date":"2022-12-15T20:00:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T20:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2023-06-15T13:55:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T13:55:48","slug":"civil-action-group","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/civil-action-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil Action Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201c<\/strong>But no sooner did I get to Mount Holyoke and get involved in the Civil
Actions Group\u2014they were also organizing around the Vietnam War. And
this is the organization, the Civil Actions Group, where most of the really
progressive Black women, particularly the upper-class women who I so
looked up to\u2014this is the group that they were a part of. The coolest Black
women on campus, as far as I was concerned, were in the Civil Actions Group”
<\/em>(Barbara Smith. Voices of Feminism Oral History Project. Interviewed by Loretta J Ross.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Chicago<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Chicago<\/a><\/figure>\n
Chicago First-Hand: a Distortion of Reality. Choragos. September 26, 1968. Mount Holyoke College Periodicals, Student Newspaper.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Students<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Students<\/a><\/figure>\n
Students Offer Free Seminar on Negro History. Mount Holyoke News. September 30, 1966. Mount Holyoke College Periodicals, Student Newspaper.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While on campus, Smith was a part of the Civil Action Group, which was a direct action student organization working for civil rights and the peace movement. The group initiated community projects, such as recreational activities and tutoring with children in the city of Holyoke. Among a number of demonstrations, the group organized fasts in protest to the Vietnam War. Smith was present at the spring 1967 March to United Nations: a national demonstration against the Vietnam War. In her return to campus that fall, she shared her experience in an article for Choragos<\/em>. She would continue this practice of participating directly in national movements and sharing with the Mount Holyoke campus when she later attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Elkins Views on Slavery from 1700: Negro Culture Seminar Opens. Mount Holyoke News. October 14, 1966. Mount Holyoke College Periodicals, Student Newspaper.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before there was a Black Studies department or a commercial recognition of Black History Month, Smith organized Negro History and Culture Seminars in the fall of her sophomore year with classmate Marie Therese \u201cTeri\u201d Oliver \u201869. Taking place from October to November, the seminars offered the Mount Holyoke campus community the opportunity to engage in learning and considering the Black experience from a sociological framework. Smith and Oliver led conversations and presentations, as well as brought speakers to campus. The events were co-sponsored by the Civil Action Group and the Fellowship of Faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBut no sooner did I get to Mount Holyoke and get involved in the CivilActions Group\u2014they were also organizing around the Vietnam War. Andthis is the organization, the Civil Actions Group, where most of the reallyprogressive Black women, particularly the upper-class women who I solooked up to\u2014this is the group that they were a part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2199,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/page-nosidebar.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-14","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/barbarasmith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}